Hole in the head?

[Nagi]

I look through the tuning bible but didn't find much on holes in the BD head for sound wise. What will a hole do for the sound? I have a 5" DynamO hole reinforcement/templates that i've haven't used yet.

[Mofishes]

Oh yeah, it's covered in the bible. Just have to do a little digging around.

 

Kick Drum, Holes in Your Head or Not

1. Any hole larger than 7" is like having no head at all on the drum.

 

2. A 7" hole creates the feel of a one-headed kick drum, feeds more beater attack direct to an audience and provides some of the tone of the resonant head. Further, it's easy to position a mic and change internal muffling devices, if used.

 

3. A 4-1/2" or 5" hole, or even 2 such holes, offset, allows some relief for rebound control of the kick beater, contains more of the drums resonance so that the resonant head is more pronounced in the tuning of the drum. A 4-1/2" hole is difficult to get large mic's positioned within (but can be done) and/or internal muffling altered.

 

4. No hole, very resonant, creates more bounce or rebound from the kick beater. It can become difficult to get the "slap" of the beater and resonance of the drum both when miced with one microphone. The muffling remains inside. The resonant head is very predominant in the overall sound.

[Nagi]

Yeah that's what I was talking about not enough info on sound

will a hole give more punch or thup for a 5" hole?

[Dave Schenck]

Originally posted by Nagi will a hole give more punch or thup for a 5" hole?

With a hole in the resonant head the sound will be drier. The bigger the hole the drier the sound. Some professional pre-cut heads have an offset hole of about 4 inches with a support ring around the hole to guard against tearing. There are kits you can buy to do this yourself.